1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of electric to acoustic transducer systems and acoustic to electric transducer systems, and more specifically, to a system for an improved unique diaphragm having a plurality of acoustic elements supported by the diaphragm.
2. Description of the Related Art
Common electric to acoustic transducer devices, and acoustic to electric transducer devices, are well documented in the following text and anthologies: Acoustic Engineering, Harry F. Olson, Ph.D., Van Norstrand Company, Inc., New Jersey, 1957 (Library of Congress catalogue card No. 57-8143) (hereinafter referred to as “Olson”); Loudspeakers, An anthology of articles on loudspeakers from the pages of the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society Vol. 1-Vol. 25 (1953-1977), 2nd Edition, Audio Engineering Society, Inc., New York, N.Y.; and Loudspeakers, An anthology of articles on loudspeakers from the pages of the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society Vol. 26-Vol. 31 (1978-1983), Audio Engineering Society, Inc., New York, N.Y., each of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Many design efforts have focused not only on the physical characteristics of the materials, such as high modulus E, low-density ρ, high E/ρ and low over all weight, but also on configuration of an acoustic diaphragm. In one approach, U.S. Pat. No. 1,757,451 (1930, Crane) consists of the impressed holes, ribs, or humps in the diaphragm, which may be filled with a damping material and preferably arranged in a logarithmic curve. This attempt related to a method of limiting or attenuating standing wave or divisional vibration by modification of the propagation characteristics of the diaphragm.
There have been some prior attempts at solve the problem of undesirable vibrations by incorporating layered fibers into an acoustic diaphragm. For example, Japanese Patent Application S58-108896 (1983, Guyot) disclosed a loudspeaker cone formed by a laminated high elasticity fiber sheet with polymer. Accordingly, Japanese Issued Patent No. 2,693,447 (1997, Tomiyake, et al.) disclosed a loudspeaker cone consisting of a high elasticity fiber with polymer stripes where every stripe is directed to the radial direction from the cone neck. Further, Japanese Issued Patent No. 0946,038 (1979, Morita, et al.) describes a dome-shaped diaphragm consisting of a high elasticity fiber with polymer wherein all fibers are directed to longitude of the dome.
However, in each of the applications described above, the construction and techniques employed did not take advantage of nor incorporate the advantages of the natural characteristics of layering as seen in a human eardrum. Another example of an advantageous naturally occurring design to solve the problem of undesirable vibrations is one which reflects the advantages of the natural layered-fiber characteristics of a feather. Yet, in each of the applications described above, the construction and techniques employed did not take advantage of nor incorporate advantageous characteristics of a feather. Thus, an acoustic diaphragm having the advantageous characteristics of a human eardrum and of a feather has not been achieved.